Print Edition for The Observer for Monday, February 27, 2023

Hugh Page reflects on career full of service

By BELLA LAUFENBERG notre dame news editor

h ugh p age, current vice president for institutional transformation and an advisor to the president, described his life as “a call to service” in an interview with The o bserver.

p age was raised as a member of the b aptist church while growing up in b altimore. h e went to a p resbyterian seminary first but ultimately discerned a call to be a minister in the e piscopal church.

b efore his life as a minister began, p age went to h ampton u niversity, where — because he was planning to go to law school — he began as a political science major.

“a s an undergraduate, i went to college intending to be a lawyer and was a political science major for, maybe, a year, and then i had a very interesting and impactful relationship with an advisor who was in the history department,” he explained. “[ h e convinced me that] being an historian provides me with a much more nuanced understanding of the law and circumstances that led to the evolution of our legal system.”

w hen he was a senior, p age felt the call to be a minister because it was well in-line with his talents. h e spent a year

at p ittsburgh Theological s eminary, which is p resbyterian, before

black renaissance celebrates talent

becoming an e piscopal reverend through the g eneral Theological s eminary. a fter working in parish ministry for about a year and a half, p age realized he was more suited to the world of academia.

“ i really thought that the scholarly evocation was one that was resonating deeply in my soul. s o, that led me to go to graduate school,” he said.

p age attended h arvard u niversity and graduated with a master’s and doctoral degree in n ear e astern languages and civilizations — which took six years. h e also received a doctor of ministry degree from the g raduate

see page PaGe 2

By CAROLINE COLLINS news writer

A previous version of this story was published online on Feb. 20.

w ashington h all’s m ainstage Theatre was packed with students and families Friday evening for the first b lack r enaissance event.

The show was hosted by the b lack s tudent a ssociation ( bsa ) and celebrated the artistic talents of b lack students at n otre d ame. The event featured a variety of performances including dancing, poetry, music and singing.

b efore the lights dimmed and the curtains opened, the co-presidents of bsa ,

juniors Kareema g reen and Jessica a shman, welcomed the audience and introduced the performances organized in honor of b lack h istory m onth.

g reen said that in past years, there haven’t been many big events on campus specifically for b lack h istory m onth. bsa wanted to do something special this year “to show the student population, not just b lack students, that we celebrate b lack h istory m onth just as seriously as any other holiday.”

g reen said they were considering inviting a guest speaker, but instead chose to put on b lack r enaissance because they

University hosts Tracey Hucks to speak

By EMMA VALES news Writer

o n Thursday, Feb. 23, n otre d ame hosted a c olloquy on b lack c hurch s tudies, consisting of a roundtable discussion and luncheon, followed by a talk from keynote speaker Tracey h ucks.

h ucks is the v ictor s . Thomas professor of Africana religious studies at h arvard d ivinity s chool and the s uzanne Young m urray professor at h arvard r adcliffe Institute for Advanced s tudy. h er talk was titled “ s acred b odies, s acred b ones: r eligion, d eath and r ace in the African d iaspora.”

m ark s anders, the inaugural director of n otre d ame’s initiative on race and resilience and professor in the Africana studies department, welcomed h ucks to the stage.

Theological Foundation in 2006.

“[ m y Ph. d .] was fascinating because as an historian, I was really interested in origins and really [interested] in antiquity. And so, going from the study of history to the study of languages and their history and the history of the ancient n ear e ast and the cultural background of the b ible, it was a good choice of program and a good experience,” he noted.

h e also added that a Ph. d . tends to be narrow in scope, with the student becoming an expert in one area — which Page noted was a very different mindset than that of a professor.

“You go off into academia, and you have to become, in a sense, a generalist in your overall discipline again, while not losing the passion for that narrow area that you spent a couple of years doing intensive research on,” he explained.

Page continued speaking on how it is essential to cultivate motivated intellectuals to create a culture of clear communication of large ideas to the public.

“There’s also an important role for translational endeavors to uphold in other venues and in other settings because we really need to plant the seeds for intellectual engagement and the general public in ways that we’ve not done so before,” he said.

h ucks began by quoting s anders’ philosophy on Africana studies saying “the African American cultural experience is one that can’t be bound by national boundaries, populations and ideas.” s he noted those ideas can change in different uses and contexts. h ucks addressed the “diaspora” that the title of her talk references, emphasizing that the understanding of diaspora is not a single, historical moment, but one of continuous diasporas as “movement, migration and travel,” as well as “imagination through thought culture, production and political struggle.”

h ucks was born and raised in h arlem, n ew York, what she said considers one of the “ b lack meccas of the diaspora.” In the fall of 2022, h ucks published “ o beah, o risa, and r eligious Identity in Trinidad”—a two-volume book exploring o beah and

Yoruba- o risa from the colonial era to the present.

o beah is defined as “a form of belief involving sorcery, practiced in parts of the West Indies, s outh America, the southern U. s . and Africa,” according to the o xford d ictionary. h ucks’ book focuses on o beah practices and its reception in Trinidad.

In her talk, h ucks gave a comprehensive history of the formation of Trinidad as a slave colony and how o beah practices were attacked. In colonial Trinidad, a law stated that “any n egro practicing any form of witchcraft will be put to death.”

General Thomas Picton, the first b ritish governor, supported colonial laws that were against African religions, or what the b ritish colonists understood o beah to be. b ritish colonists and Picton viewed o beah practices as dangerous

and lethal means of witchcraft.

h ucks presented an authentic receipt of the brutal punishments given to people in Trinidad that were caught practicing o beah. The punishments on the receipt ranged from being led through the town and pilloried to being decapitated.

“I know there’s a lot of death circulating this,” h ucks admitted, after spending a great amount of the presentation discussing the punishments around o beah. b ut, she emphasized the importance of knowing what those practicing o beah experienced.

h ucks said she finished writing this book in the midst of the “racial pandemic” in the summer of 2020, following the George Floyd murder. The final chapters of the book focused on racism today in America, particularly in 2020

and h ucks’ feelings during this time. In the fall of 2022, it was published in the r eport of the s teering c ommittee on h uman r emains in h arvard University’s m useums c ollection. It was also shown in “The Legacy of s lavery at h arvard” publication in 2022.

h ucks read a few passages from the afterword of the book to close her presentation, including one quote from the last page.

“Perhaps most true is that African religions, in general, represent an infinite resource of spiritual power and weaponry of shielding and sustaining protection,” she said. “And of righteous resistance to the religious violence and enduring beliefs of white racecraft.”

Contact Emma Vales at evales@nd.edu

From

Harvard to California, from California to South Bend

After graduating from h arvard, Page took a job at c alifornia s tate University in s acramento, c alifornia, which he said was a “good offer, because it was the only offer.” There, he was an assistant teaching professor in the department of humanities, and he taught an introductory, required history course. Approximately one year into his job, n otre d ame reached out and offered him a tenure-track position in the theology department.

“It was a tough choice at that point because I had just moved from c onnecticut to c alifornia and thought I would be there for life. b ut the offer to come here and to be a part of a really nationally-renowned theology department with a number of colleagues who worked in liberal studies and were very well-known, that was too good to refuse. s o, I moved here in in 1992, and have been here ever since,” he explained.

Page joined the theology department as an assistant professor on the tenure track. s oon after he started, the dean of the c ollege of Arts and Letters asked him if he would become the director of the African and African American studies program. Page said he realized this opportunity would be in service to a cause greater than himself.

“That’s not my area of expertise or training, but I agreed to do it because I felt that it was an important thing to do at a really critical time in professional development,” he said. “Faculty of

color at universities where they are often underrepresented, frequently are asked to take on service obligations that may not be within their area of expertise but represent opportunities to do something that would be of benefit to students, to their colleagues, to alumni … it would be a chance to do something that was of greater importance than the pursuit of tenure.”

Page emphasized that he felt he was carrying on the legacy of others who came before him and those who would come after him.

“I was very conscious of standing on the shoulders of other colleagues across a series of generations from 1970 until 2005, when the decision was made for it to be a department, and of being a steward of their dreams and their aspirations,” he said.

This position was Page’s first experience working with the administration. h e then served as an associate dean, a dean of first-year studies from 2005-2019, vice president and associate provost for undergraduate affairs from 2013-2022 and now, his current role. With each position, Page said he gained more insight.

“In each of those capacities, I got to learn more about the decision-making process, about budgeting, about the larger ecosystem in American higher education and how things function,” he said. “It’s all a call to service.”

Throughout his career, Page specifically made it a goal to always be involved in the lives of students at the University.

“I decided at the very

beginning that I would not do administration or be involved in administration in a way that took me out of the classroom and away from students.

b ecause if I did that, I would lose a sense of what the institution’s core mission was,” he said. “If you don’t have a sense, a visceral sense, in personal experience, in multiple areas of university life, then you’re kind of blind to some of the things that go on.”

h e explained how valuable this connection has been to him — how those relationships are sometimes the reward themselves.

“At the end of the day, if people say that they trust or feel a connection to the work that I do, because they know that I stand in solidarity with them, that’s a huge reward in and of itself,” he reflected.

Throughout his time working at n otre d ame, Page commented how he has realized the sheer amount of work that is done, emphasizing “the hidden labor that goes into making a University like this an open, welcoming space.” Page also mentioned how he felt his view as an outsider arriving to the University is a real asset at times.

Looking toward the future, Page noted the 10year timeframe outlined in the University board of trustees’ task force report on d iversity, e quity and Inclusion.

“The first thing for me is to take seriously the charge that the trustees have given all of us in its report, ‘advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in n otre d ame — strategic

framework,’ and ensuring that those principles within the report are my n orth stars for anything that I do in this role,” he said. “Thinking of ways that we can synergize our efforts over the next decade and help the University become the very best version of itself, that’s work that we all have to assume responsibility for.”

s pecifically, Page emphasized his mission of helping n otre d ame reach its true potential in providing a welcoming environment for people of all races, ethnicities and genders.

“ h elping to build a beloved community in the sense that m artin Luther King Jr. imagined it and doing so, one person at a time, one dream at a time, one loving and compassionate act at a time … this is what will have to be top of the University’s agenda for the foreseeable future,” he said.

Undoing injustices ingrained in society is the driving force behind his motivation in coming to work every day, Page said.

“It’s taken us, as a country, more than 300 years to create the circumstances that promote social inequity and injustice. I think it may well take us multiple generations to undo that work, but it can be done, and I remain hopeful about it,” he noted. “That’s what keeps me up at night. It’s what energizes me every day, and it’s what makes these new goals so incredibly exciting.”

Contact Bella Laufenberg at ilaufenb@nd.edu

Santos selected commencement speaker

Fr. Jenkins announces Juan Manuel Santos as principal speaker at 2023 commencement ceremony

Observer Staff Report

in a statement released monday morning, notre dame president

Fr. John Jenkins announced former colombian president and nobel peace prize laureate Juan manuel santos as the principal speaker at the university’s commencement ceremony on may 21. santos, who served as president of colombia from 2010 to 2018, was the sole recipient of the distinguished award in 2016 for his role in ending colombia’s 52-year-long civil war, the longest armed conflict in the western hemisphere.

“president santos honored us with his presence on campus last fall as a distinguished policy fellow in our Keough school of global affairs, and we look

Trans students can opt for Fischer

By ISA SHEIKH

a ssociate news editor

The apartments at Fischer graduate residences have served as an residential option for transgender students, associate vice president for residential life heather rakoczy russell told The observer in an interview.

Transgender students could be assigned to a dorm aligned with their assigned sex at birth, move off campus or “they have the option to live at Fischer graduate residences, with or without a roommate,” russell said.

The interview came ahead of the university’s announcement that it would be establishing the undergraduate community at Fischer ( ucF), billed as a “new residential community for undergraduate women and men, opening in Fall 2023” in a Feb. 1 announcement. The ucF will house 80 students in the on-campus two-resident apartments with private bedrooms.

discussing how the university has approached transgender or gender nonconforming applicants, vice

president for undergraduate enrollment m icki Kidder explained that the notre dame supplement to the common app now includes a question about sex at birth.

russell discussed how residential life has approached these issues, mentioning how most transgender first-years choose to live in an on-campus dorm as opposed to the other two options.

“most of our students in their first year, transgender students, have chosen to be in a residence hall, and we handpick the residence hall based on what we know to be not only a welcoming community… a s part of a major renovation or new construction, we have a single user bathroom with a shower near or in a residential section, so that lends itself to more privacy and a more comfortable environment,” she explained.

in an email, russell discussed the future of undergrads at Fischer.

“To echo what dan rohmiller, director of residential life for housing operations, provided

forward to welcoming him back in may,” Jenkins said in the release. “his courageous leadership and resolute commitment ended a half-century-long civil war and put his nation on a path to peace and prosperity.”

in september, santos delivered the 29th annual hesburgh lecture in ethics and public policy, discussing peacebuilding. his ties to notre dame go back further.

“president santos’ relationship with notre dame began in 2012, when he turned to notre dame’s Kroc institute for international peace studies for insight and assistance as he began exploratory talks with the Farc [revolutionary armed Forces of

see sanTos PAGE 4

CSC unveils Pokagon art

By KATE KIRWAN news writer

This past Thursday, n otre d ame students, s outh b end community members and tribe members of the p okagon b and of p otawatomi, filled g eddes h all coffee house, gathering to celebrate the unveiling of the permanent installation of the p okagon art collection.

The installation is a part of the c enter for s ocial c oncerns’s a rts of d ignity

series and features 18 different art pieces placed around g eddes h all. The pieces were crafted by five local artists from the p okagon b and of p otawatomi including Jamie c hapman, Kathy g ertz Fodness, John Fox, d avid m artin and Jason wesaw. m ichael h ebbeler, a managing director at the c enter for s ocial c oncerns, opened by describing the intention of the art installation.

an invitation to acknowledge, engage and learn from the p okagon b and and p otawatomi — a community rich in resilience, beauty and in relationship with the land and each other,” h ebbeler said.

d emonstrating this communal relationship the p okagon b and have with each other and the land, the tribe’s e lders r epresentative, b arbara a nn m artin, offered a

see Fischer PAGE 4 see poKagon PAGE 4

“The art on the walls and in the back shelves is

Courtesy of Jfbeltranr

Monday morning, University President Fr. John Jenkins announced Juan Manuel Santos as the 2023 commencement ceremony speaker. He is the former Columbian president and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

Kate Kirwan | The Observer Art pieces created by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi now hang as a collection on the walls of Geddes Hall coffee house. The installation is part of the Center for Social Concerns’ Arts of Dignity series.

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Today’s Staff

News

Sports

Petition for Dwayne Jones’ murder

By CAROLINE COLLINS news Writer

Editor’s note: This article contains discussions of violence against transgender individuals.

dwayne Jones was a transgender teenager who was murdered by a mob in Jamaica in 2013. They were beaten, stabbed, shot and run over by a car when they showed up to a community dance party wearing a dress.

now, 10 years later, notre dame student Policy network (sPn) students are working with Washington Program teaching professor in political science Thomas Kellenberg to petition the Inter-American commission on human rights (IAchr) demanding that Jamaica investigate and prosecute the murder of Jones.

Juniors Kiera votzmeyer and Jensen enterman are leading the project. votzmeyer started working on the project after attending the Washington Program in d c. last spring.

“We’re really passionate about ensuring that [LGbTQ+] people are treated with the same respect, regardless of identity,” votzmeyer said. “That’s something that’s been stated multiple times by different international

bodies, but it’s not something that’s been followed through with, as evident by this murder.”

Kellenberg filed a petition for Jones’ case with the IAchr in 2016. The IAchr is an autonomous body of the organization of American states that engages in fact-finding missions and rules on cases alleging human rights violations.

“It’s an international commission,” votzmeyer said. “[Petitioning to the IAchr] not only makes the statement to Jamaica but to every [IAchr] member, that this behavior is not acceptable and should not be tolerated.”

The sPn students are working to pursue the petition that Kellenberg initially filed. votzmeyer said they are working to gather amicus briefs to submit to the commission to show they have support for the case from prominent human rights organizations around the world. They are also soliciting these briefs from human rights clinics at top law schools.

In addition to drafting briefs they are also “building a coalition of nongovernmental organizations, international law firms and human rights clinics to hold Jamaica responsible,” Kellenberg said.

After the briefs are submitted to the court by may 1, Jamaica will have the opportunity to respond, and then the commission will issue a decision on the case.

Kellenberg said the remedies they are seeking from the commission are to hold a hearing in Jones’ case, to declare Jamaica in violation of the American convention on human rights, to establish an international group of independent experts to oversee an investigation of Jones’ murder and to repeal all laws that criminalize same-sex intimacy in Jamaica.

Jamaica’s anti-sodomy laws dating back to 1864 criminalize homosexual conduct. These colonial-era laws were i ntroduced to support british control and attempt to set standards of behavior. however, votzmeyer said these laws create inequality and stigmatize people in the LGbTQ+ community.

“The basis for our legal argument is that this law is the root of [LGbTQ+] hate in Jamaica and the law needs to go,” she said.

Kellenberg explained that these laws precipitate homophobia and anti-LGbTQ+ violence in Jamaica.

“The commission has found

that there’s a link between sodomy laws and human rights abuses against LGbTQ+ persons, insofar as those laws condone discrimination, stigmatization and violence by providing a social sanction for abuse,” Kellenberg said.

most universities in the country have a human rights clinic in the law school that would tackle these types of cases. however, notre dame Law school doesn’t have a human rights clinic, so this work that is typical of law students is being done by undergraduates.

“This is really a tribute to our students that they’re able to do this high-level work as undergraduates,” Kellenberg said.

votzmeyer said working on the project has been a rewarding experience for real-world applications of policy work and also the opportunity to advocate for change and justice for Jones.

“To know that we’re supported by such well [known] and educated people has been really validating, and it’s uplifting to see that so many people are so passionate about this issue too.”

Corrections

A story published in Friday’s paper on the off the Ave coffee shop misspelled erin bennett’s name and failed to name three of the shop’s founders. The article also misnamed the coffee shop. The correct name is off the Ave. The observer regrets these errors.

All are welcome.

Contact Caroline Collins at ccolli23@nd.edu

blessing over the art pieces in the native Potawatomi language.

“We thank the c reator for the wild animals, the ones that crawl, the ones that walk and the birds. We asked him, for all those spirits that are here today to bless these halls and all who enter them,” m artin said.

m artin offered a paper copy of this prayer to the c enter for s ocial c oncerns to be displayed in the coffee house alongside the artwork.

f ollowing the e lder’s invocation, two of the local artists with pieces in the collection offered commentary and reflection on their art.

Kathy g ertz f odness, creator of the pottery pieces in the back corner cabinet, described that she had been creating pottery since high school.

h er two pottery pieces focus specifically on the Turtle c lan, and elements of the clan’s culture that are meaningful to herself and her tribe.

“ i feel like this is my legacy that i ’m leaving behind. n ot only does it represent me, but more importantly, it represents us as a tribe,” f odness said.

f odness told The o bserver that the inspiration for her art comes from formative periods in her childhood, spending time with her father and siblings outside. s he described that her family and her tribe instilled in her the importance of creating an intimate relationship between herself and the land.

“When i was a little girl, my dad would wake us up early on the weekend. s o, when we get home for walking, and that’s where my inspiration comes from. i t was just ingrained,” f ondness said.

d avid m artin, the second artist present at the event, has lived in Zenda o dan (the Potawatomi name for s outh b end, i ndiana) his whole life. h is art takes various forms in the collection, including oil paintings and beadwork.

o ne of m artin’s paintings on display, “Thunderbird” focuses primarily on his tribe, the b ear c lan.

“The Thunderbird is actually considered a water protector, and i created it using copper. The copper material we use a lot of times for bowls and ceremonial items. i t is known as a symbol of healing. i n the background, those are abstracts of water lilies since the thunderbird is a water protector,” m artin noted.

m artin also commented on the beadwork pieces

he created.

“The first piece, the blue with the lightning on it, is a dance tie. i t’s a men’s contemporary dance tie. There’s actually two beaded sections to it. i f you look closely at the section with the lighting on it, i made that when i was 18,” m artin said.

Jason Wesaw, one of the local artists, was a driving force that set this installation in motion. u nfortunately, he was not able to attend the event, but h ebbeler concluded the event with remarks that Wesaw hoped to share with the community.

“Wesaw wanted me to communicate what his work is about,” h ebbeler said. “ i remember him saying that his work is about three things: the spirit and nurturing power of the natural world, the

ways in which ancient Potawatomi traditional culture remains relevant in modern times and building bridges of communication and understanding between human beings of all races, religions, cultures and ages.”

“This is what this collection is about,” h ebbeler continued. “The art that we get to enjoy, the conversations and the relationship building that resulted in the commitment to doing this collection. m ay the work inspire and instruct.”

s tudents, staff and local community members can stop by to view the permanent art collection anytime in the coffee house.

Contact Kate Kirwan at kkirwan@nd.edu

via email to the irish rover regarding the undergraduate community at fischer, the ucf offers another residential community to our undergraduate students,” she wrote.

russell said the new community is an “extension of the university’s residential model.”

“The ucf remains committed to student formation and community, and its residents will continue to experience the hallmarks of residential life: a rector and hall staff, students from multiple class years and intentional community building in a unique setting,” she said.

Contact Isa Sheikh at isheikh@nd.edu

Santos

colombia] in an effort to end the long civil war,” the press release said.

according to the release, the Kroc institute was given primary responsibility for technical verification of the peace accord between the colombian government and revolutionary forces. The result was the Peace accords matrix, the first time a university had been involved so closely in such an agreement. in his hesburgh Lecture, santos shared his vision for leadership to notre dame students.

“if you lead with a positive mind and with the truth, you will make the world a better place,” santos said. “and let it be said about you that one life has breathed easier because you have lived.”

Paid a dverT isemen T

Black history beyond February

Grace Sullivan I.m.P.A.c.T.

black history month was established with the intention of dedicating a month to highlight the impactful historical contributions of black individuals that are often ignored by the whitewashing of American history. While this month is attempting to include and integrate black voices, some individuals like shukree hassan Tilghman – a film producer and writer – explains in an article how, “we are invisible for 11 months out of the year, but now suddenly we were visible in February.” There is an ongoing debate on whether black history month advocates for the representation or further segregates black history from American history. As stated by Karsonya Wise Whitehead, an executive director for the Karson Institute for race, Peace, and social Justice at Loyola University, “We want black history to be American history.” To work towards this goal, hasan Kwame Jeffries – a professor of history at ohio state University – emphasizes the need for Americans to question the American experience and “the myth of perpetual progress and American exceptionalism” to effectively integrate black history into the common narrative. so, as black history month comes to an end, it is important that all Americans continue to educate themselves by recognizing influential black figures that impacted American history.

each year, the Association for the study of African American Life and history (AsALh) chooses a theme for black history month. This year, the theme was black resistance. The intention of this theme was to reframe the conversation around black history month to one of empowerment rather than victimization. As explained by LaGarrett King, an associate professor of social studies education at the University at buffalo, this theme emphasizes the “power that black people have in terms of their historical realities which counters the concept of victimhood that many say drives black history education.” While some still argue that black history month can feel tokenizing, its existence is necessary as it advocates for the integration of black historical figures into all aspects of history as a means to hold America accountable for the white-washed narrative it perpetuates. A start to making sure influential black figures are recognized for their contributions to historical movements can start with Women’s history month and recognizing black women’s impact and contributions to the progression of the feminist movement.

In march, Women’s history month celebrates the monumental and significant contributions of women who served as the central leaders to the mainstream feminist movement. however, the feminist movement has a history of marginalizing the voices of black women through the reluctance to address racialized discrimination women of color face. essentially, as stated in this article about white feminism, “black women are still less likely to be associated with the perception and ideals related to the ‘typical woman’ and are viewed as more similar to black men than to white women.” In other words, black women are not recognized as equal to white women in the feminist movement because of the racial oppression they experience. not only does this narrative exclude black women from mainstream feminism, but their significant contributions toward the movement continue to go unrecognized as an essential part of American history and women’s liberation. An example of this is shown through anti-rape activism which was pioneered by black women including but not limited to monumental black feminist leaders like Fannie barrier Williams and Ida b. Wells. As stated by TIme, black women’s strategic contributions to anti-rape activism in the 1970s anchored the movement. regardless, sexual violence against black women remains under-addressed in the mainstream antirape movement. The unseen and unheard contributions of black women to this movement is only one example of the power white supremacy holds in shifting the narrative of American history by excluding the contributions of people of color. mainstream feminism, or often referred to as white feminism, only acknowledges the impact of gender-based oppression without taking into account how other forms of oppression such as racism and homophobia further marginalize women with these identities. Thus, intersectionality, a term coined by Kimberle crenshaw describes “how race, class, gender and other individual characteristics ‘intersect’ with one another and overlap.” Utilizing an intersectional lens when revisiting American history could encourage individuals to re-educate themselves and question the common white supremacist doctrine that has been promoted to the American public. As explained by Audre Lorde, a lesbian, mother, warrior and poet, “although differences in gender have received all the focus, it is essential that these other differences are also recognized and addressed. That ideology is the root of intersectional feminism as we have come to know it today.” black history month is essential in recognizing the contributions and essential role black people played in American history, but this cannot be limited to one month. It is crucial that there is a continuous effort to uplift the legacy, influence and voices of black figures to advocate for an accurate and inclusive representation of American history.

Grace Sullivan is a first-year at Notre Dame studying global affairs with a minor in gender studies. In her column I.M.P.A.C.T (Intersectionality Makes Political Activist Change Transpire), she is passionate about looking at global social justice issues through an intersectional feminist lens. Outside of The Observer, she enjoys hiking, painting and being a plant mom. She can be reached at at gsulli22@ nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

dining hall despair

Jonah Tran de re Publica

The dining hall food is terrible. There, I had to rip the band-Aid off. I will not sugarcoat the quality of the dining hall food. on the whole, it is simply bad. before I begin listing off my grievances, I need to establish a few things. my opinions are based off my experience predominately at north dining hall. Though the few times that I have eaten at south, I can say in good conscience that the quality of the food, not the ambience, are comparable. secondly, I am not attacking ndh Pablo, a local hero and fellow stanford Griffin, but I do willingly accept all criticism from all ndh Pablo apologetics. Lastly, I am by no means a picky eater. In fact, I take great pleasure in eating food, which is why such a topic like dining hall food hits so close to home.

The chicken breast.

Picture this. You see a heaping mound of chicken bits submerged under a sea of watery, murky chicken sweat. You fish out a few pieces and plonk them down onto the plate. Upon taking a bite, your tastebuds are confused by the semblance of poultry, present in its most unseasoned form, and your jaw is subjected to a high intensity workout to chew and swallow the “food.”

The tilapia.

d ry, chewy, and unremarkably fishy, the tilapia will induce gagging and will ruin any future vacation or recreation at a body of water. but seriously, you have got some issues if you trust fish at a dining hall in s outh b end, Indiana.

Beef short rib.

In theory, this dish ought to be fantastic, a hearty meal reminiscent of home cooking. however, it fails miserably. The beef short rib is paradoxically drenched in beef sweat but it retains no moisture, flavor, or tenderness, similar to the case with the chicken breast.

Mandarin orange cauliflower.

I have seen, first-hand, the physical disappointment of people who thought that the Asian line had orange chicken, a chinese American crowd pleaser, but instead was cauliflower. I include myself in this association. It looks like chicken but tastes like obsessive breading and mush drenched in a sugary sauce.

Meatloaf.

meatloaf is one of those foods that depends on your experience with it. You love it because grandma was killing it in the kitchen with the family recipe. o r you hate it because grandma was killing you with the family recipe. I vividly remember one time my slices of meatloaf had a gradient of doneness. At the bottom third of the slice, was well-done, a thick gray band throughout. b ut the top two thirds of the slice was medium rare.

It does not take a Gordon r amsay to deduce that uncooked ground beef is a no go.

Weggs.

These speak for themselves. Absolutely disgusting. my dislike for the dining hall food is not just based on the low levels of appearance, taste, texture and smell but also on nutrition. To eat healthily, you must scavenge for bits of dry chicken, rabbit food and the small quantity of unrotten fruit. To eat unhealthily, you have freedom of choice, and the offerings are endless. Pick up a chocolate chip cookie. Grab a side of fries. e njoy a southwest salad, a mound of fried chicken doused in ranch. Treat yourself to a boom-boom chicken salad. Your arteries will thank you in advance. my point is that the unhealthy food — yes that means your favorite “salad” is not healthy — is more mainstream and comes at the expense of your body. Why should there be a wider variety of desserts than fruit? Why are the lines for salads on Tuesday and Thursday so long? Why do so many people queue for the stir-fry, which in my calculations is processed, fried chicken poppers swimming in teriyaki sauce.

I fear that the dining halls have somewhat of a monopoly in the food market at notre dame. Yes, there are flex-point restaurants, but you are severely limited by option and the number of flex points themselves. There is no incentive to improve the quality of food since there is minimal competition, if you can even call it competition, and no one calls out the issues. It seems like we are so entranced in a lull of eating terrible food that we have lost our standards. only once we eat food outside the bounds of notre dame do we restore our standards, only to lose them again upon returning to school. Investing in your body by nourishing it with delicious and nutritious food is a nonnegotiable for a good life. one cannot have a healthy mind without having a body. To think that notre dame invests so much in developing our minds but leaves so little to develop our bodies is troubling. It appears hypocritical. As for exercising, delving into my dislike for the smith c enter at d uncan and the inequalities in male and female residence hall gyms is a can of worms that I wish not to open in this article.

I once remarked that it is impossible for me to gain the notorious freshmen 15 since the food is so bad. Another time, I remarked that the dining hall food is made in such a way that I never will eat again, because the food will nourish me for an eternity! obviously.

Jonah Tran is a first-year at Notre Dame double majoring in Finance and Economics and minoring in Classics. Although fully embracing the notorious title of a “Menbroza,” he prides himself on being an Educated Young Southern Gentleman. You can contact Jonah by email at jtran5@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

People-watching in sdh

Kathryn Muchnick

Associate news editor

I know the s outh vs. north debate is a bit tired. We all have our opinions, and most of us refuse to budge. We agonize over food quality, dining layout, chair comfort, T v access, even the illusive criteria of “vibes,” but I think there is one category we neglect in these overwrought conversations. I must confess up front that I am an sdh loyalist through and through (who wants to eat at a combination middle school cafeteria/hotel continental breakfast station all while being watched by oversized photos of tomatoes?), but any dining hall is ripe with opportunities for one of my favorite pastimes — people-watching.

People-watching is often a subconscious act. You don’t even realize you’ve been paying attention to that group three tables over until you ask your friend her hypotheses on the topic of their argument. It relies on attention to the idiosyncrasies of others — overheard bits of conversation, body language, relationship interactions or clothing — to guess at their story with limited details. When described in the abstract, I recognize that people-watching can sound a bit creepy, but I think it is simply the outcome of our instinctive curiosity. We are all watching each other, even if we’re reluctant to admit it. despite its introverted implications, I find that

people-watching is best done with the company of a close friend. You can bounce ideas off each other as you observe new details, coming closer to unlocking the puzzle of another pair’s relationship — recent exes, first dates or maybe a friendship with romantic tension? o f course, people-watching is not a precise science. I’m sure that my guesses are wrong most of the time. but that doesn’t diminish its value as a dinner-time diversion. Whenever the conversation lulls, there’s almost always something to say about the strangers around you.

my friends and I would all self-identify as life-long people-watchers, but our friend group started collectively people-watching at the beginning of this semester. We sat for hours in sdh, the sunday after break, observing those around us. We noted the new faces, returned from a semester of study abroad, our mutual friends who seemed to be handling an awkward conversation and the happy reunions of everyone still floating on the c hristmas vacation high. since then, we’ve identified the regular characters on the sitcom we call sdh dinnertime — people we don’t know but who eat dinner at the same time as us. We vie for the seat facing the middle aisle of the dining hall because the best observations require an unobstructed view.

now, I know I said that both dining halls offer ample opportunity for people-watching, but s outh really is the better dining hall for this particular pastime. In south, there are no nooks and crannies

to hide in — the crowd is all around. The dinnertime crew is always large and chatty. People loiter around the sticky tables of sdh for a while, chatting with their friends and avoiding their homework, in a way that they do not anywhere else. And the slightly humiliating tradition of clapping when a sdh patron drops their plate or cutlery is prime for funny or endearing reactions.

People-watching at sdh focuses on the commonplace. Just another sunday night dinner. but if you pay enough attention, it can also be a rare glimpse into the lives of your peers. For a brief moment, we are bound up in each other’s evenings — my dinnertime is your dinnertime is everyone’s dinnertime. sdh’s cavernous rooms and long tables force me to look around and acknowledge the community at notre dame. even though I might know nothing about the person at the other end of my sdh table, I get to witness the sacred ritual of mealtime with friends, full of laughter and stress and camaraderie and everything in between.

so I hope you take a moment to look around at dinner tonight. I hope you appreciate the beauty of hundreds of students sitting in one room, eating together.

And I hope you choose south dining hall.

You can contact Kathryn at kmuchnic@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

TERFs: Ideologically nonsensical

The term “TerF” has once again sparked in popularity as one of the many buzzwords in internet discourse following the release of the critically acclaimed yet controversial video game “hogwarts Legacy,” which marks the latest expansion of the “harry Potter” franchise. despite its seeming high quality, the game has acquired a noticeable unfavorability amongst some players because of the increasing notoriety the author of the novels, JK rowling, has obtained as a self-proclaimed TerF. A TerF is a “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.” That is to say, an advocate for women’s rights that is simultaneously opposed to the transgender rights movement. one brief glance at the writer’s Twitter page will be enough to notice that her constant advocacy for women’s rights is regularly interrupted by her anti-trans rhetoric and her distribution of fear-mongering articles that attempt to depict the trans movement as another method of abuse orchestrated by conniving men. naturally, some fans of the “harry Potter” franchise feel conflicted with monetarily supporting an author that employs her platform in this manner. nevertheless, whether one can purchase and consume “hogwarts Legacy” morally is a question for another day. rather, I would like to focus on the philosophy rowling proudly associates herself with: the TerF reactionary countermovement. most importantly, I will point out the fact that, as an ideology, TerFs make absolutely no sense. This is primarily due to the willingly ignored fact that one cannot claim to be a feminist while perpetuating the oppression of trans people. Though evidently there are many variants of feminism, the umbrella objective of a feminist is to achieve equity between the sexes. A feminist acknowledges that women have historically been victims of oppression and recognizes its political, social and cultural repercussions whilst attempting to address injustices in a patriarchal society. Ultimately, a feminist believes that no one should face discrimination as a result of the sex one is born to. They understand it is equally ridiculous to discriminate against someone for the color of their skin or their place of birth — it is

something a person had no bearing in deciding and does not say anything about the content of their character. The logical conclusion of this set of beliefs is to attempt, to the best of one’s ability, to reduce bias and hatred in a society predisposed to bias and hatred. Yet, how can one defy centuries of social conditioning and constructs that justify sexism? Why, by deconstructing the politicized idea of gender norms and roles that create the foundation for patriarchal thought — to address that one’s sex determines nothing about the identity nor value of an individual. Uncoincidentally, it is this very thing that trans rights advocates aim to achieve. While the trans and feminist movement may have different focuses, they share a methodology and their goals count with the same prerequisite: to challenge the very concept of gender and how it should affect society’s perception of a group. Thus, feminism is not simply compatible with the trans movement, rather, they actively support one another.

Then, how come TerFs exist? how can a person claim to protect women’s interests by striking down a movement that supports and emboldens their cause? rather than malice, it often boils down to ignorance. People fear what they do not understand and the concept of dissociating sex from gender is harder to grasp than that of dissociating sex from worth. of course, there are plenty of evil actors that hijack the narrative and push the regressive myth that trans people are actually a threat to women. These highlights of isolated incidents are nothing but smokescreens with the hope of pinning feminists against trans activists. The most prevalent of these is the idea that being inclusive of trans women in restrooms presents a danger to cis women. They portray trans men as either deranged creatures that cannot control their primal desires or scheming sexual assaulters that identify as trans for the exclusive reason to harass cis women in vulnerable situations. Putting aside the fact that such a depiction confirms many biases regarding the “nature” of men and women (defeating the goal of feminism), it has also been demonstrated statistically that the inclusion of trans men in restrooms has not resulted in an increase of sexual assaults. Lacking any proper evidence, opposers to trans rights must recur to myths, horror stories or wildly broadcast specific

instances that are clearly not a reflection of the full reality. And if the oppressor can provoke infighting between the oppressed — drowning systematic problems in irrelevant or outright fake culture wars — they are sure to take the opportunity.

Thus, the TerF ideology is the result of meticulously generating conflict amongst those that could unite for a cause and create tangible change in the status quo. of course, for those that sit atop the social hierarchy, the idea of societal progress is a nightmare; it is a threat to their power. so, why not create discord? Further smokescreens are established, then, such as the idea that trans women will threaten womanhood — that because of them, a cis woman cannot wear traditionally feminine clothing or engage in conventionally feminine activities anymore. This, too, is nonsensical. The trans movement aims to detach gender and sex, not to burn an abstract idea of femininity or masculinity. If anything, it makes said conventions available to all: the trans movement states that everyone should portray and behave in whichever way they desire. If a cis woman would like to wear long dresses and makeup, no one is stopping her. All the opposite, she is encouraged to exist as herself whichever way she wishes to be. The trans movement does not seek to threaten or harm, it seeks to liberate — just as feminism does. This is the logical end of both movements: freedom, regardless of the sex one is born with. As such, anyone with a critical eye should be able to tell that TerFs are nothing more than ideologically nonsensical.

Carlos A. Basurto is a first-year at Notre Dame ready to delve into his philosophy major with the hopes of adding the burden of a computer science major on top of that. When not busy, you can find him consuming yet another 3+ hour-long analysis video of a show he has yet to watch or masochistically completing every achievement from a variety of video games. Now with the power to channel his least insane ideas, feel free to talk about them via email at cbasurto@nd.edu (he is, tragically, very fond of speaking further about anything at all).

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Carlos Basurto eudaemonic banter

Ivey proved to be near perfect to capture ACC

jack-of-all trades forward sonia citron.

notre dame women’s basketball was always bound to have an uniquely small rotation this year. That’s what happens when you only carry ten scholarship players.

Ivey was well aware of the smaller roster she was constructing, placing an emphasis on quality trumping quantity in her squad. The Irish bench might have been shorter than that of most of their opponents, but Ivey had no interest in stringing along players she couldn’t trust. sunday afternoon, that trust was tested in a major way. notre dame had already taken their fair share of lumps with injuries heading into their season-ending clash with Louisville. starting guard dara mabrey, the longest-tenured member of the roster, was lost for the season with a knee injury. Graduate student center Lauren ebo, the only other player on the roster with senior-level eligibility, battled a foot ailment for most of February.

between mabrey’s absence and ebo’s reduced minutes, Ivey was already scraping by with her rotations when disaster struck. oliva miles, the Irish’s national Player of the Year contender point guard, crumpled over in agonized pain midway through the second quarter at the KFc Yum! center. she was helped off the court with what was later revealed to be a knee injury.

For the final two minutes of the second frame, a shell-shocked notre dame team looked outgunned. A quick Louisville run put the cardinals up nine heading into halftime. The Irish needed a master class from their coach as much as their squad over the final 20 minutes to claim victory as well as their first outright Acc title since 2019.

Ivey didn’t just need to beat one of the Acc’s better teams at a venue notre dame hadn’t won at since 2016. she needed to do so with an almost-unheard of lack of squad depth. To truly understand the scope of Ivey’s work in the second half, it’s important to take stock of exactly who she had available to use coming out of the break.

In total, the Irish had eight healthy scholarship players. Two of those players were freshmen — including cassandre Prosper, an early enrollee who was playing high school basketball as recently as this december. Two more of those players averaged under 10 minutes per game and had previously been used almost exclusively in a rotational role. most concerningly, Ivey was now without both starting members of her backcourt, causing her to place ball-handling duties upon

The choice to let citron run the offense rather than thrust backup point guard Jenna brown into a massive role proved to be the first major decision Ivey got right on a day where she’d have to nail many. The 6’1’’ citron immediately proved a mismatch for the Louisville defense, who struggled to stop her from getting downhill and to the rim once she got across the halfway line. citron exploded for 17 points in the second half, 10 of which came from the free throw line. most of those free throw points resulted from situations where the cardinals had resorted to fouling citron because she had driven into the paint so effectively.

The front court was another area where Ivey had to be spot on in her game management to get the Irish a win on sunday. even though notre dame had both their usual post players healthy enough to play sunday — though its still unclear if ebo was fully healthy or simply healthy enough — Ivey had to deal with a different numbers game: fouls. The officials were whistle-happy on both teams all afternoon, with both squads combining to shoot 50 total free throws. As the game wore on both ebo and Watson (as well as cassandre Prosper and KK bransford) found themselves one foul away from leaving the contest.

Watson picked up her fourth with five minutes left in the game. ebo earned hers with two minutes left. Ivey knew she couldn’t afford to play without at least one of her two tallest players in a game where notre dame was already being out-rebounded. but, she also knew losing one of ebo or Watson to a foul-out could be a death-blow to an already paperthin rotation.

her management of their minutes had to be near-perfect. she would have to effectively get both involved, but without stretching their minutes to the point where Louisville could target one of them and force a fifth foul.

Ivey subbed in ebo for Watson (or vice-versa) three times alone in the fourth quarter. It was the only form of substitution Ivey made for the final ten minutes of the game. ebo played six minutes of the final frame. Watson played four. They combined for five rebounds and an assist as the Irish ended the game on a 25-19 run. And neither of them fouled out.

sunday also proved to be as much of a story of Ivey’s player development as was her in-game coaching. notre dame’s best players over the final ten minutes after citron were almost certainly the freshman duo of Prosper and bransford. The pairing combined for over half of the Irish’s fourth quarter points, as well as three

rebounds and an assist.

The growth Ivey has sparked in the rookie tandem over the course of 2022 has been remarkable. In the first few games of the season, bransford looked all the part of a lone freshman on a squad full of returning veterans. over notre dame’s first three games, bransford didn’t play more than 20 minutes once and shot a combined 3-13 from the floor. on sunday, bransford played 20 minutes in the second half alone. she finished the game 7-11 from the floor as notre dame’s second leading scorer in a game where it desperately needed a second option to emerge. The outing was the latest in a string of strong performances for bransford, who under Ivey’s tutelage seems to grow more and more confident by the day.

And as impressive as bransford’s evolution has been, Prosper might be the even more remarkable testament to Ivey’s ability to develop talent. The 6’2’’ combo guard joined the Irish squad in december, a midseason boost to a roster that needed depth. And in her first outings, unsurprisingly for a player still of high school age, Prosper struggled. she played just three minutes on her debut against miami. Against Florida state — the first top 25 team Prosper played more than 10 minutes against — she shot 0-9. but, Ivey also kept working with Prosper for her to be ready for the next big moment. even when she’d show more signs of her inexperience — such as an 1-8 outing from the field in a crucial game against duke — Ivey kept on allowing her to work through the adjustment to the next level. And on sunday, that willingness to commit to the adjustment period paid off. Prosper provided 11 points, four rebounds and two assists against the cardinals, including a pair of free throws with six seconds left to clinch victory for the Irish.

In many ways, Ivey’s work with Prosper is emblematic of her work with this notre dame squad as a whole this season. There have been struggles, some of which have been controllable and some of which have been out of Ivey’s hands. but ultimately, Ivey has shown that she values trust in her young squad above all else. And sunday, that trust resulted in a championship.

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

their names in the legacy of this program, bringing the trophy home.”

only ten days removed from olivia miles’ buzzer-beater, notre dame and Louisville played another air-tight game. Louisville leaned out to a 14-10 lead late in the first quarter, but the Irish punched back. After junior guard hailey van Lith scored a quick five points, the cardinals offense fell silent for the final two and a half minutes. In the final minute, freshman guard KK bransford made them pay. she grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds, putting the second back home for a 15-14 advantage to end the first.

Upon transitioning to the second quarter, the Irish went cold. A 0-for-4 stretch from the field opened the door for Louisville to embark on a 6-0 scoring run. however, a big three-pointer from sophomore guard sonia citron knotted the score at 20. That’s when things got ugly for notre dame. While Louisville junior forward olivia cochran tallied seven consecutive points, the Irish went scoreless for four minutes. halfway through that timeframe, miles went down.

As she dashed toward the block, miles lost possession of the ball and attempted to change direction. In doing so, she landed awkwardly on her right knee and tumbled in considerable pain. After enduring the scenes of graduate guard dara mabrey’s torn AcL on Jan. 22, many Irish fans feared the worst. but even with their phenom done for the day, the Irish continued to battle, taking a 3324 deficit to halftime.

“When our sister goes down, everyone has to step up and do more,” Ivey said. “We’d already been through that situation [with mabrey and Lauren ebo], so everyone knew they had to compete.”

The Irish did more, but not before Louisville widened the margin to 10 early in the third quarter. At that point, notre dame’s top-three scorers on the day began to find their game. citron, bransford and freshman guard cassandre Prosper scored 12 of nd’s next 15 points, shrinking the Louisville lead to 46-43 by quarter’s end.

Through the first three minutes of quarter four, the margin fluctuated between one and three points. Finally, with under six minutes to play, citron sank two free throws and gave notre dame a 54-53 lead. moments later, with the Irish up two, she hit the shot heard ‘round the ‘ville. Late in the shot clock, she stepped back at the left wing, launching a three-ball that touched only nylon for a 60-55 lead.

Louisville, which endured a 1-for-11 stretch through the heart

of the fourth quarter, fought desperately to tie the game. nothing was working, but a major window finally opened with 17 seconds to play. Trailing by three, the cardinals sent citron to the free throw line for two shots. she had already drained ten but clanked both on her final trip, too, setting up Louisville for a chance to tie.

Unsurprisingly, the cards turned to van Lith, the Acc’s third-highest scorer. notre dame defended her to perfection, and her contested three from the left corner missed everything. As the ball exited the vicinity of the rim, Prosper entered the biggest moment of her two months at notre dame. The early enrollee nabbed the rebound, and Louisville promptly fouled her with six seconds remaining. needing one free throw to ice the game, she calmly knocked down both.

“she is a gamer and a blessing, a beautiful addition to our team,” Ivey said of Prosper, who provided 11 points off the bench. “For her to take steals and make those free throws speaks to the program-changing player she is.”

The cardinals hit a jumper at the buzzer for fun, but the deal was done. Ivey screamed, miles hobbled off the bench and the ladies in blue and gold gathered to celebrate an outright Acc title. At the center of the party was citron, who played a career game in miles’ absence, just as she did when mabrey went out against virginia. citron dropped a season-high 27 points on a 10-for-14 performance from the free throw line. Perhaps just as importantly, she played 39 of 40 minutes, providing on-court leadership in a time of need.

“The coaches have prepared me really well for whenever miles needs a break,” citron said. “our team did a great job of focusing possession-by-possession and getting stops on defense.”

bransford also scored a key 14 points for a notre dame team that outdueled Louisville 47 percent to 34 from the field.

The cardinals countered with 16 offensive rebounds against the shorthanded and foul-weakened Irish, but nd buckled down late on the glass. Inefficiency plagued van Lith (6-21 FG, 1-6 3P), but she still put up 23 points. having locked in the top seed, notre dame will wait until Friday before opening Acc tournament play. For the time being, all eyes are on the status of miles and her apparent knee injury. Ivey said the team was still “in the dark” regarding a diagnosis after sunday’s game. With or without miles, the Irish will face the winner of the eightversus-nine seed game, which will be played Thursday.

Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy@nd.edu

Jonah Tran de re Publica

Happy Birthday: you’ll be met with some opposition. don’t let anger make matters worse. step back, assess your situations and options, take your time and choose reason over desire. your success depends on intelligence, preparation and simplicity. channel your emotions into love and romance. build strong relationships, and put your energy into gaining knowledge and skills that help you surpass your expectations. your numbers are 8, 12, 24, 29, 31, 36, 47.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): stretch your mind, consider the possibilities and come up with a plan that can help you get ahead financially. give your all physically, mentally and emotionally, and you will find your niche and enjoy the process. A romantic gesture will touch you emotionally.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): you’ll be put in a difficult position if you are too compliant. Pick and choose what you are willing to do and refuse to let anyone put you in an uncomfortable position. offer what you can do, nothing more, and you’ll stop others from taking advantage of you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): share your thoughts and feelings. look for any opportunity to pitch in and help. having an innovative plan, discipline and skill will increase your profile. don’t believe everything you hear; go directly to the source to stop someone from misleading you.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): don’t stand in someone’s shadow; explore possibilities in order to discover that you can do more. head to the drawing board, figure out what you want to do and get the ball rolling. sign up for whatever courses or credits you need.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): get involved in something that motivates you to make a difference. The people you meet will light up your life and contribute to how you live. The amount you grow emotionally will help you appreciate what you have and who you are.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): An emotional issue will collide with your responsibilities. make changes on the fly to accommodate those who can influence your reputation or status quo. bending to fit circumstances will show your ability to make things work, regardless of what’s going on around you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Participate in whatever sparks your interest. getting out, socializing, learning something new or visiting a place you’ve never been will help you figure out what you want to pursue next. love is in the stars, and the opportunity to improve your life looks promising.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): go about your business and honor your promises. you’ll avoid criticism from someone who can make or break your spirit. Take the road less traveled if it helps you avoid an argument or joint venture. focus on saving, not taking on additional debt.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Address domestic issues openly and enforce suggestions that ease tension and make your living arrangements workable. keeping updated with the latest technology or work aids that come along will pay off. discuss personal intentions with someone you love.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): don’t sell yourself short. speak up, follow through and make a difference. be concerned about your health; choose a fitness program that helps eliminate any bad habits you’ve adopted over the years. lower your overhead with a lifestyle change.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): you know what you want; figure out the easiest way to make it happen. Put pressure on people and situations that need a nudge. you will get the help required to use your space, skills and knowledge to improve your life.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): emotional manipulation will make it easy to get what you want, but recognize how others react to your pleas before you decide to take that route. your highest return will come from kindness and doing something nice for someone you love.

Birthday Baby: you are sassy, charming and outspoken. you are entertaining and sensitive.

launching a bullet into the top corner of the net. h e would also score three goals in the game, one of three i rish players to do so along with d obson and senior midfielder r eilly Gray.

Trailing 2-0, the h oyas answered with their first score less than a minute later. They were not able to make up any ground, though, as the pattern of n otre d ame scoring twice and Georgetown answering with one would continue for the rest of the first quarter. The period ended with the i rish holding a 6-3 advantage.

That lead was made all the more impressive by the fact that Georgetown went 6-10 on faceoffs in the quarter. n otre d ame’s defense forced five turnovers in the first. Those, along with two tough saves made by senior goalie Liam e ntenmann, allowed the i rish to make up the possession deficit and take the lead.

Last year against Georgetown, the i rish were just 9-29 on faceoffs, and that discrepancy was a key factor in them losing that game. o n s aturday, n otre d ame was a similar 11-27, but won in a blowout, thanks to their defense winning back the ball and their offense taking full advantage of limited opportunities. a fter a frantic opening 15 minutes, both defenses settled in, and the pace slowed down significantly. Four minutes into the quarter, n otre d ame struck first. Gray tallied his second goal of the game on a jump shot that he converted while being shoved to the ground by a defender. Graduate student midfielder b rian Tevlin added another three minutes later, and the i rish held an 8-3 lead midway through the second.

That was their fourth time scoring back-to-back goals in the game, but Georgetown had responded with a score after each of the first three instances. This time around, n otre d ame snapped that streak, as d obson’s third goal of the day pushed their advantage to 9-3. That score would hold until halftime, as the h oyas were held scoreless for the entire quarter. The shutout quarter was the i rish’s second of the year, after they had done the same in the third quarter of their season opener against m arquette.

Lacrosse is often a game of runs, and a six-goal halftime advantage could be wiped away in an instant if n otre d ame let their guard down. i n last year’s matchup,

Georgetown held a 11-2 lead before the i rish rattled off eight consecutive goals. b ut n otre d ame had no intention of letting a similar situation play out on s aturday, and they kept their foot on the gas pedal after the break.

Kavanagh scored twice in the quarter, one of them assisted by his brother, senior attacker Pat Kavanagh. e ntering the final quarter, the i rish’s lead had been extended to 135. a nd when Gray completed his hat-trick midway through the fourth to give n otre d ame a doubledigit lead at 15-5, it was clear that there would be no stopping the i rish.

Georgetown scored three times in the final minutes, but it was too little, too late, as n otre d ame closed out a 15-8 victory.

The win was the i rish’s first on the road, as well as their first against a ranked opponent. They will have a chance to get their second in both of those categories next s aturday, when they travel to face n o. 9 m aryland. That game will continue their gauntlet of a schedule.

i ncluding Georgetown, nine of n otre d ame’s final 10 opponents are currently ranked in the top 20. The tenth, m ichigan, is receiving votes and sits just outside of the rankings.

r egardless, s aturday’s result will give the i rish confidence that they match up well with any team in the nation. h aving defeated their first three opponents by a combined 28 goals, n otre d ame looks ready to keep on winning.

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu

W Lacrosse

con T inued From PaGe 12

registering theirown pair of goals before Wolak slipped another one by c lemson goalkeeper sophomore e mily Lamparter — manufacturing an 8-7 affair with a quarter to play.

a few minutes into the fourth period, junior midfielder e lla Little would notch the final Tiger point of the afternoon. i n the last 10 minutes and 29 seconds of the game, the i rish scored five unanswered to emerge victorious 12-9.

Though the i rish had to play from behind for much of the match, head coach c hristine h alfpenny said the team never really felt down at all.

“The scoreboard says one thing, and then the clock says another,” h alfpenny

said. “ i t’s a long game. i t’s 15-minute quarters, and we made great adjustments.”

This year being the inaugural season of c lemson women’s lacrosse program, h alfpenny credited how the Tigers came out in their fifth-ever game.

“[ c lemson] had a great game plan, and they played really well,” h alfpenny said. “They’re graduate students. Their average age is probably 22-point-something, and i thought they… organized and took advantage of some of our miscues… and shot really well.”

h alfpenny was happy that the i rish remained out of foul trouble and won the turnover battle, she continued.

“This is our lowest turnover game, and we knew that was going to be important,” h alfpenny said. “We thought that was an edge

that we would get. c lemson has been turning the ball over at like a 15-turnover clip, and they did again. We were able to turn them over, and they turned us over. b ut we only had four unforced errors, and i think that is a game changer for us.”

r ecognizing the vital role of the i rish’s depth in the win, h alfpenny added that s aturday’s performance did give reason for excitement.

“Top to bottom it was awesome to see how we were able to come in as a team, and start to gel as a team when we needed to the most,” h alfpenny said.

o n s aturday, n otre d ame travels to c harlotte, n orth c arolina to take on the n o. 10 d uke u niversity b lue d evils at 1:30 p.m. es T.

Contact

Peter Breen at pbreen2@nd.edu

RYAN VIGILANTE | The Observer

Irish graduate student midfield player Hannah Dorney runs down the field with the ball, preparing to score against the University of Pittsburgh on April 16, 2022, resulting in a 19-7 home win.

Irish claim ACC titles

By ANNIKA HERKO sports Writer

We’re still a fencing school. This weekend, the notre dame fencing team traveled to chestnut hill, massachusetts (home of boston college) to compete in the acc championships. Two other schools traveled to compete against the no. 1 ranked irish team, duke and north carolina. Like a traditional meet, the first day consisted of individual competitions and the second was for team competitions.

For individual competitions, the irish won first in every category. in women’s epee, junior and defending national champion Kaylin hsieh took gold, while freshman eszter muhari finished third. Graduate student miriam Grady and freshman michaela Joyce finished fourth and fifth, respectively, out of 14 competitors. in women’s foil, sophomore nicole Pustilnik finished first with junior Karina Yaroshenko, senior Paige Luong and senior Tianji Lukins finishing fourth, fifth and eighth out of fourteen. notre dame swept in women’s sabre graduate Kara Linder, sophomore Jadeyn Williams and junior atara Greenbaum took gold, silver and bronze. neve harrison also competed, finishing 14th out of 16 competitors.

The men’s team was just as dominant. For epee, freshman maruan osman-Touson placed first and freshmen Jonathan hamilton-meikle and noah silvers finished fourth and sixth out of sixteen. in foil, sophomore Philip dority took gold with freshman Paulo morais, freshman Jack oursler and freshman Jason Zhao finishing fourth, seventh and

Saint

tenth out of sixteen competitors. and, in sabre, junior Luke Linder and senior George bivins took gold and bronze for notre dame. sophomore henry nadile and junior sean moon finished eighth and tenth out of sixteen.

on sunday, the team championships began, with the women competing first. in the first match, the irish beat no. 4 boston college 24-3. The irish swept in epee with junior amanda Pirkowski and michaela Joyce each going 5-0 in one set. in foil, the irish went 8-1 with Luong going 5-0 in a set. Finally, in sabre, the team went 7-2 with Greenbaum going undefeated in a set.

carrying that momentum into their match against no. 3 north carolina, the irish went 20-7 overall. They went 6-3 in epee and Foil, and 8-1 in sabre. Greenbaum and rebeca candescu both went 5-0 in their sets. in their final match against no. 2 duke, notre dame went 19-8. They went 6-3 in epee, 7-2 in foil and 6-3 saber. Luong went 5-0 in one of her sets in foil.

The men’s team started out by beating no. 4 duke 18-9. They went 7-2 in epee, 8-1 in foil and 3-6 in sabre. against no. 3 boston college, notre dame went 21-6 overall, going 7-2 in epee, 5-4 in foil, and sweeping in sabre. bivins went 5-0 in one of his sets in sabre. Finally, against no. 2 north carolina, the irish went 8-1 in epee, 7-2 in foil, and 7-2 in sabre. hamilton-melke and dority each went 5-0 in one of their sets.

The irish will move on to the ncaa midwest regional competition on march 11 in evanston, illinois.

Contact Annika Herko at aherko@nd.edu

Mary's College

Master of Autism Studies

as n otre d ame grabbed four of six possible points at n o. 4 m ichigan, going beyond regulation in both games.

Friday: Irish survive early chaos to win shootout i n only nine minutes, any questions regarding the competitiveness of the series were answered. n otre d ame and m ichigan had each scored twice by the first period’s midway point. The fireworks opened during an early Wolverines power-play. With b en b rinkman in the penalty box for interference, m ichigan forward T.J. h ughes saw an opening as he entered the offensive zone. The freshman cruised between two i rish defenders and slid the puck around senior goaltender r yan b ischel for his 12th goal of the season.

Three minutes later, n otre d ame countered at the tail end of its own man advantage. Junior d rew b avaro sent a wrist shot through traffic, and senior Jesse Lansdell caught a piece of it. The change of direction fooled e rik Portillo, and the game was level at one. Within the next minute, n otre d ame untied it. While graduate forward c hayse Primeau battled behind the cage, sophomore forward Landon s laggert parked himself at the edge of the goal crease. The puck found him, and he popped the puck over Portillo’s pad for his fifth goal in six games.

a nother 57 seconds elapsed before the Wolverines offered a freshman-powered response. e ntering the i rish zone on a two-on-one, forward Jackson h allum slid the puck across the net-mouth.

i t reached linemate Gavin b rindley, who rocketed a one-timer past b ischel for his 10th goal of the campaign. b rindley had another great look several minutes later, but the 2-2 tie carried on to the first intermission.

i n the second period, n otre d ame killed off a pair of penalties, maintaining the tie through 40 minutes of play. Then, on an early third-period power play, the i rish struck again. Just after Primeau missed a yawning cage, fellow net-front presence Jack a dams bailed him out. The graduate forward drifted out from below the goal line, stuffing the puck between Portillo’s legs for the lead. With six minutes left, senior defenseman Jake b oltmann nearly added insurance but nailed the crossbar for nd ’s third piperinger of the night.

From there, the Wolverines dominated play. a fter senior defenseman n ick Leivermann took an

interference penalty, they tied the game. With Portillo pulled, prolific freshman forward a dam Fantilli ripped a shot through b ischel’s wickets for his 50th point of the season.

a s the game transitioned to overtime, m ichigan continued the pressure. m idway through the three-on-three period, as Fantilli and sophomore forward m ackie s amoskevich broke in alone on b ischel, c hase b lackmun saved the day. a s Fantilli prepared to hammer home the presumptive game-winning one-timer, the graduate defenseman laid out to disrupt his shot.

The shootout opened with Leivermann hoping to atone for his late penalty, and that he did. o n a slow approach, the i rish captain crossed Portillo’s face before scoring on a high wrist shot. To follow, b ischel made two saves, including a magnificent glove stop on Fantilli. The extra point came down to another freshman forward, r utger m cGroarty. h e moved in slowly and fired off a quick wrister, but b ischel made the winning pad save.

Saturday: Irish win a nailbiter in OT

h eading into s aturday night’s game, the i rish needed two specific results to occur to keep their hopes of home ice alive.

First, they needed m innesota to complete its sweep of o hio s tate. s econdly, n otre d ame needed unranked Wisconsin to knock off Penn s tate on the road.

The o hio s tate sweep felt much more likely. o hio s tate had been shut out by m innesota 4-0 the night before. a nd while the b uckeyes got on the board twice, the Golden Gophers still completed the sweep, 5-2.

The second felt less so. The b adgers were 0-11 in conference road games. h owever, the b adgers pulled off the unlikely thanks to a powerplay goal and a review that took Penn s tate’s equalizer off the board.

The i rish now had a chance. i f n otre d ame won in regulation, they earned the third seed. a n o T win would get them fourth. a loss of any kind would keep them in sixth.

Game action began with the first of six i rish penalties when sophomore forward Tyler c arpenter was called for interference. c arpenter’s penalty set the tempo for the game. The officials would call 13 penalties for a combined 48 minutes, including two game misconducts.

m ichigan’s game misconduct came on a dam Fantilli, the Wolverine’s star forward leading the country in goals. The call (contact to the head) gave the i rish a five-minute power play in

the waning moments of the first and resulted in Fantilli’s ejection from the game.

The i rish began a scoreless second period with their man advantage, though the advantage did not last long. Just two minutes into the second, Leivermann was called for interference resulting in a four-on-four for the rest of Fantilli’s major.

The i rish would be called for their game misconduct when Lansdell was ejected for a cross-check to the head, giving m ichigan a five-minute power play. h owever, just as n otre d ame had cut their power-play short with a penalty, so too would m ichigan, and the second period ended as it began: scoreless.

The final penalty of the game would have massive implications for both the game and the b ig 10 standings.

a fter m ichigan was called for high-sticking, n otre d ame began their best power play of the night. With just 10 seconds remaining in the advantage, b avaro caught a pass from junior forward Grant s ilianoff. b avaro returned the pass and floated off his defender before receiving a pass and letting a one-timer fly. Thanks to a screen from a dams, Portillo could not see the puck coming, and nd scored the night’s first goal.

The Wolverines would find the equalizer just six minutes later when they scored at 9:59. m ichigan won a faceoff in the i rish defensive zone and jammed b ischel’s crease. a fter winning the faceoff, Wolverine freshman c asey s eamus would slide the puck to r utger m cGroarty, who beat b ischel on a point-blank shot, b ischel’s only blemish on a night in which he carried the i rish defensively.

i n the next ten minutes, neither team could find twine, resulting in the second overtime in as many days.

Unlike Friday night, however, the i rish would not need a shootout to win the extra conference point. With 3:30 left in o T, sophomore h unter s trand collected the puck from the corner and chipped it to b avaro. b avaro carried the puck through the neutral zone and to the near faceoff dot before taking his first shot. Portillo blocked it, but b avaro caught his rebound and shot again before catching a second rebound. The third time was indeed the charm, and b avaro got the i rish the win and fourth place in the conference standings.

Contact Thomas Zwiller and Tyler Reidy at tzwiller@hcc-nd.edu and treidy@nd.edu

HOcKEY ND

Historic game versus Clemson

By PETER BREEN

sports Writer

n otre d ame women’s lacrosse handed c lemson their first loss in program history s aturday afternoon at the Loftus s ports c enter. The n o. 14 Irish — thanks to the 12-9 win in their A cc opener — improved to 3-1 on the season.

Junior midfielder Kasey c homa and senior attacker Jackie Wolak led the way for the Irish with a hat trick each. m inorly thwarted by the Tiger’s 16 total saves, n otre d ame assuaged a white-knuckle victory taking advantage of c lemson’s 16 total turnovers.

Tiger graduate student attacker Gianna n ew, who would complete the afternoon with a hat trick of her own, drew first blood about 200 seconds into the competition. o ver the next seven minutes of play, the Irish recorded three unanswered goals, and the scoreboard

ND wOMEN’s BAsKETBALL

nd sweeps m ichigan in shootout, overtime

read 3-1 in favor of the home team 10 minutes in.

Just under two and half minutes left in the opening quarter, senior midfielder e mma Tilson snuck one by Irish goalkeeper junior Lilly c allahan, to bring the Tigers a score away from a tie game. Then less than 30 seconds later, n ew tallied her second goal of the day to knot the endeavor at three apiece.

d uring period two, five minutes passed before a c homa point propped the Irish back up 4-3. The road team went on to punch in three unreturned Tiger scores, and the Irish would trot off the field down 6-4 at halftime.

Five minutes into the third quarter, the Irish leveled out the contest once again when Wolak and c homa found the net via an unassisted and a free position shot, respectively. The Tigers would respond by

see W LAcrosse PAGE 10

By THOMAS ZWILLER and TYLER REIDY sports Writers

Madness in Michigan: Irish complete improbable run for home ice

Three weeks ago, notre dame hockey hit a breaking point. After a February-opening sweep at the hands of michigan state, the team’s postseason hopes looked bleak. As the Irish exited the U.s college hockey online (Uscho) top 20, its prospects for home ice in the big Ten tournament and qualification for the ncAA tournament were fading. something needed to change, and change sure did happen.

now, with the regular season finished, the turnaround has come full circle. notre dame will host that same michigan state team in the big Ten tournament’s opening round. should the Irish win the series, they will almost certainly receive a bid to the national tournament. The magical run reached a stunning crescendo this weekend,

seven-sational: Irish atop the Acc again

By TYLER REIDY sports Writer

For eight consecutive years, Karen and Kevin Keyes family head coach niele Ivey helped notre dame women’s basketball to regular season conference titles. As an assistant coach, she took part in a pair of big east winnings and six Acc crowns during the 2010s. on sunday, Ivey finally got her chance to lead the Irish to conference glory, and lead did she ever. navigating an injury to superstar sophomore guard olivia miles and foul trouble down the stretch, she guided notre dame to a 68-65 road defeat of Louisville. With the help of north carolina’s victory at duke, the result secured an outright regular season Acc championship for the Irish. notre dame’s first title in three years and seventh overall also accounts for Ivey’s first as a head coach.

“I’m super proud of this team and their toughness and resiliency to win on the road,” Ivey said after the game. “They’re etching

Irish beat Hoyas on the road

By MATTHEW CROW Associate sports editor

It is normally a safe bet that leaving s outh b end in February will bring you to better weather. That was not the case for n otre d ame men’s lacrosse, who were met with freezing temperatures and snow flurries for their trip to Washington, d c ., to face Georgetown. b ut inclement weather was no obstacle for the n o. 2 Irish on s aturday, as they jumped out to a big first-quarter lead and did not look back, downing the n o. 17 h oyas 15-8 and improving to 3-0 on the year.

n otre d ame entered the game highly motivated. The Irish hoped to remain undefeated and pick up an important road win over a ranked opponent, but also to avenge their defeat against Georgetown last year at home. In that game, the h oyas led 6-1 after the first quarter and had taken the air out of Arlotta s tadium

with most of the game still to be played. It was nearly the exact opposite scenario on s aturday.

The Irish scored their first goal less than one minute into the game and were in total control for the remaining 59.

That first goal came from junior midfielder e ric d obson, who would finish the game with a second consecutive hat-trick, continuing his strong start to the season. d obson’s goal extended the Irish’s streak of scoring on the opening possession of every game they have played this season.

n otre d ame’s lead doubled soon after when sophomore attacker c hris Kavanagh — the team’s leading scorer — put a second shot past the Georgetown goalie. Kavanagh’s score was one for the highlight reel. h e jumped while running away from the goal before spinning in midair and

ND MEN’s LAcROssE

RYAN VIGILANTE | The Observer

Irish sophomore Olivia Miles attempts to score against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, resulting in an at home win on Feb. 23.

wOMEN’s LAcROssE

MAX PETROSKY | The Observer

Irish junior forward Landon Slaggert checks a Wolverine player to get to the puck in Compton Family Ice Arena on Feb. 25, 2022. see hocKeY PAGE 11

hesburgh library presents rare book collection

By ROSE ANDROWICH news Writer

The r are b ooks s pecial c ollection ( rbsc ), in honor of b lack history month and women’s history month, is curating a special collection called “That just isn’t fair; settling for leftovers.” The collection explores the experiences of b lack women athletes and b lack women’s involvement in culture and politics.

The collection was curated by r achel b ohlmann and Greg b ond. b ohlmann is an American history librarian and curator for the University, while b ond is a sports archivist and researcher.

The collection features various magazines, one of them founded by a famous female tennis player. b ond discussed the Women’s s ports m agazine and its founder.

“It was founded by b illie Jean King. s he was the founding publisher, famous tennis player, in 1974. I believe it was published and one of the first mainstream magazines [that] really focused on women in sports. I knew we had this title, and I was looking through it and we’re thinking about an exhibit about both b lack history month in February and women’s history month in m arch,” b ond said.

b ond also spoke about the process of finding the magazines curated in the exhibit.

“I was looking through the

Talent

con TIn U ed From pAGe 1

wanted the event to revolve around the b lack community here on campus.

“We wanted to do something where the whole community was involved,” she said. “We started organizing people we knew who could sing and dance on our campus and in our b lack community.”

The student performances were broken up by short videos that discussed the history of b lack h istory m onth and featured influential figures from the c ivil r ights m ovement.

The videos also previewed the student performances. For example, they explained how tap dancing originated at the crossroads of African and Irish American dance, introducing sophomore London b askerville’s tap performance. Additionally,

women’s sports magazines. We have to play this title with an eye towards something that captured the history of women’s sports and also African American women in sports. And luckily, women’s sports magazine did cover African American athletes. In fact, before the 1970s, women in sports didn’t get a lot of coverage in the popular press,” b ond said.

The articles in the magazine, b ond said, talk about how the lack of funding in the seventies connect to the modern issues women in sports are facing.

“ s everal of the articles talk about the lack of funding some of these women athletes who are receiving in the mid seventies, and the discrepancy in funding between male athletes and women athletes. In this case, the track athletes, which, of course, directly ties to some of the issues we’ve had today with funding for the women’s national soccer team, the men’s national soccer team, W nb A versus the nb A,” b ond said.

The collection features articles from feminist magazines and discusses the idea of b lack feminism,

b ohlmann added.

“The earliest one is a feminist magazine — a second wave feminist magazine from 1970 … and in it is an article by an African American woman who was writing about b lack feminism, so she sort of theorizing about

before junior Faith Woods read the poem “I s it and s ew,” the b lack Lives m atter video “ n ow, We Transform” was played.

The show also highlighted student style with two fashion shows. In the diversity of b lack hair show, the models rocked styles ranging from curls to afros to durags.

In the cultural fashion show, students donned outfits that included a pink 2000s tracksuit, jeans paired with a jean jacket and outfits representing Afro- c aribbean culture.

The first act concluded with junior Fabrice Uwihirwe singing a song he wrote called “Ubuntu.” After the intermission, there was a short skit and students broke out into song, setting the stage for the second half of the performance.

The show also featured a dance number by r itmo nd

feminism of b lack women, and how that fits in with the sort of larger women’s movement in the United s tates,” she said.

b ohlmann continued, expanding on how the article points to the impor-

b ut that’s why we want to display these, because it shows both how far we’ve come and what yet needs to be done. s o, there’s a hopefulness about it,”

b ohlmann said.

b ond noted the progress

competed in the o lympics and how she discussed, in one of the articles on display, the lack of resources available in order to compete at the o lympics.

“They offer no funding — no travel funding, no

tance of b lack women in women’s movements.

“We were thinking about how these magazines — both for African American athletes and for African American non-athletes — are a way to show how these African American women were absolutely fundamental, foundational to the women’s movement in the 1970s,” she said.

b ohlmann also added she feels the problems shown in the exhibit are still being faced today.

“A lot of these questions and problems are still with us to an alarming degree.

that has been made but, in his opinion, there’s work that still needs to be done.

“That certainly a lot of progress that has been made — uneven progress and in certain areas, perhaps — but there’s still work to be done, and we can see through the activism, the struggle of these women in the seventies, perhaps, a path forward [which can] help explain how we get to where we are and where we still hope to go,” b ond said.

b ond spoke about m adeline m anning Jackson, a distance runner who

training funding. s he talks about how she probably could have gone, but she didn’t want to go because it made her mad, the lack of resources. s he also talks about she wasn’t mad just for herself, but for all the other girls not to put up with this kind of treatment,” he said.

The exhibit is on display until the end of m arch and the rbsc is open m onday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Contact Rose Androwich at randrowich@saintmarys.edu

“We know that in the Latino community, there are some Afro-Latinos, so we wanted to make sure that they were involved as well,” Green said.

Green said that bs A hopes to partner with other cultural clubs in the future and to have more events

for the b lack community on campus.

“We want to have more events where students can come together and enjoy the b lack experience here at n otre d ame because, unfortunately for us, it’s not the same as many other students’ [experi -

ences] on campus,” she said. “The b lack s tudent Association is just as important as other clubs and student organizations on campus.”

Contact Caroline Collins at ccolli23@nd.edu

CAROLINE COLLINS | The Observer

On Friday, Feb. 17, students and faculty gather to watch performanes that highlighted the variety of artistic talents of the black students at Notre Dame, including dance, poetry, music and singing.

ROSE ANDROWICH | The Observer Hesburgh exhibited a special collection of books in recognition of Black History Month and women’s history month. The books highlighted the experiences of Black women in athletics, culture and politics.

Celebrating Black athletes at Notre Dame

By AIDAN THOMAS and MANNION McGINLEY sports editor and Assistant managing editor

As n otre d ame joins the rest of the world in celebrating b lack h istory m onth, an opportunity is presented to recognize the b lack athletes who have strengthened the tradition of Irish athletics. m any times, they pushed through adverse conditions unique to b lack athletes and attempted to crack a largely segregated sports scene in the mid-1900s. In addition, a chance is presented to acknowledge the improvements that can still be made, especially at a predominantly white institution (PWI) where only 6.6% of the undergraduate student body identifies as b lack, according to the University’s report on diversity, equity and inclusion.

For the Irish, those traditions started back in 1944, when Frazier Thompson enrolled at n otre d ame. h e ultimately became the first African American graduate of the University in 1947. While at n otre d ame, he competed for the Irish track and field team as a sprinter.

Along with his pre-professionals degree, he was the first b lack athlete to earn a monogram from the University. The monogram is a tiered award given to student athletes up to four times as they complete their

Irish careers.

In the 1990s, n otre d ame named a financial scholarship after Thompson. The Frazier Thompson s cholarship (FT s ) grants are given “to a diverse group of undergraduate, graduate and professional students who have helped to … enhance the experience of the African American student body,” which is, according to m ulticultural s tudent s ervices and Programs ( ms P s ), the primary goal of the fund as established by b lack Alumni of n otre d ame ( b A of nd ). r ecipients of FT s grants are selected for “their interest in and support for the African d iaspora through demonstrated interaction which has been intellectually, socially and spiritually fruitful.”

In addition, the Frazier Thompson Award was established in 2021, awarded to those with outstanding contributions to diversity and inclusion within the n otre d ame community. Former Irish football captain d aelin h ayes earned the inaugural award — he led and helped the football team host a Juneetenth rally on campus in 2020. h ayes made an impact as a five-year player with the Irish, captaining the squad to the c ollege Football Playoff in his final season.

Throughout b lack h istory m onth, n otre d ame football has given current Irish players the opportunity to speak

about b lack figures who inspire them. In a post the program made to its Twitter, current Irish defensive lineman r ylie m ills shouted out h ayes, further illustrating the impact h ayes made on the Irish community and how he helped n otre d ame continue to take steps forward.

n ine years after Thompson enrolled, running back d ick Washington and defensive lineman Wayne e dmonds became the first b lack players to don the famed gold helmets of Irish football. e dmonds ultimately became the first to earn the monogram for the program. The 1953 season featured some telling moments, like the Irish football team needing to stay an hour outside n orman, o klahoma when facing the s ooners because they couldn’t find a closer hotel that would accept the whole team, including e dmonds and Washington. Later that season, the pair became the first b lack players to ever compete in the University of n orth c arolina’s Kenan m emorial s tadium. It was a season of milestones for the n otre d ame football team, and they punctuated it with a national championship.

In the years since, n otre d ame has improved its efforts to make its campus and community a welcoming place for all, something former Irish offensive lineman r yan h arris spoke about.

h arris spent three and a half years at n otre d ame before heading to the n FL as a third-round selection in 2007.

“ m y time at n otre d ame as a b lack athlete, I had every resource to be successful,” h arris said. “ o ne of the things I loved about n otre d ame — coaches and school — they placed a high expectation on me. It wasn’t about going to college and just playing football, it was about getting your degree and making sure you win a national championship.”

h arris also talked about those opportunities to enhance his growth on and off the field, adding, “It was interesting for me as somebody who, probably, it would’ve been tougher for me to get in without football, and yet I got two degrees in three and a half years from notre d ame.”

h arris has enjoyed a very successful career after n otre d ame. The former offensive tackle spent most of his time with the d enver b roncos, winning s uper b owl 50 in the 2015-16 season.

s ince his playing days, h arris jumped into a sports entertainment and broadcasting career. In addition to freelance color analyst work (as well as serving as a keynote speaker), h arris returned to n otre d ame to serve as the analyst for the n otre d ame football radio team. h arris noted that attending n otre d ame provides

strong opportunities for athletes of color, despite the University’s predominantly white student body.

“ e specially for African American athletes and athletes of color, it’s just an amazing experience to be exposed to the wide variety of people that n otre d ame brings in that are excellent at what they do,” h arris noted. “ e specially at n otre d ame, I think it was unique that as a minority athlete, you were rooming with a regular student. 99% of the time, it’s [a situation] where the student is caucasian.”

While n otre d ame has come a long way since the days of Frazier Thompson, d ick Washington and Wayne e dmonds, there is more work to be done, h arris said. h e praised the n otre d ame community, but acknowledged its shortcomings.

“

s o, incredibly welcoming, incredible to feel those expectations, and there’s also this feeling of, ‘ h ow is it that the majority of people of color here are athletes and not reflected in the general student body?’” h arris said. “That’s where we can all be a force for good, and we can all be a force for good together because of the inclusion that n otre d ame has practiced over decades.”

Contact Aidan Thomas at athoma28@nd.edu and Mannion McGinley

at mmcginl3@nd.edu

Dance Africa performs flash mob, showcase

By ANGELA MATHEW manager of Talent and Inclusion

d ance Africa, a 14-member dance troupe at the University of n otre d ame, performs modern dances from different regions of the continent. They recently performed at b lack s tudent Association’s b lack r enaissance event and at a flash mob in d uncan s tudent c enter on Wednesday, Feb. 22.

s enior Lekabel Abul, a cocaptain of d ance Africa, is originally from b enin and c ameroon but has also lived in Washington d c h e explained how d ance Africa hopes to spread the word about African culture and dances.

“The main goal with d ance Africa is to … teach people about African culture as well as our dances. A lot of people assume that all African dances are the same, very tribal with drums. There is that aspect but we have also evolved,” Abul said. “ s o, a lot of our dances are modern

African dance genres like Afrobeats, Amapiano and c ongolese music.”

Abul said that the troupe’s members are from all over Africa.

“I have a co-captain who’s from s outh Africa. We also have some people from Zimbabwe, n igeria, Ghana,” she said.

The team was started two years ago but has recently begun the process of securing funding from s A o

“At first we did small performances mainly with [African s tudent Association (A s A)] whenever they had events for a showcase.

h owever, d ance Africa is trying to become its own official club now,” Abul said.

This past week, d ance Africa performed as part of a flash mob for b lack history week programming organized by the m endoza c ollege of b usiness and the b lack Graduate s tudents Association.

“They wanted b lack students to come dressed in business casual attire, take

pictures … and just show off b lack pride. In addition to that, they were different performances. We did a performance with … maybe about six or seven of our members and at the end, everyone that was present joined in,” Abul said.

For junior Fabrice Uwihirwe, joining d ance Africa was a natural way to keep engaging with aspects of his culture that he was interested in. Uwihirwe was born in r wanda and moved to d ayton, o hio when he was around seven years old.

“ m y sister started an African dance troupe when she was in college, and then she also started a contemporary b lack hip-hop dance group. s o, I’ve kind of grown up around dance,” he said.

Uwihirwe said that he was inspired to join the group after watching one of their “Africa on the Quad” performances during his first-year at the University.

s ophomore Frances Ubogu is an international student from Lagos, n igeria.

s he said that though she had performed African dances in elementary school, she had lost touch with it as a teenager since she had been homeschooled.

“ c oming to college, it’s been cool to just pick that up again. I feel like I’m more in tune with my ancestors, doing the footwork and stuff even though I’m not good at it,” Ubogu said.

Abul said that the troupe will begin learning new dances in the coming weeks

and is open to new members who want to join.

“We’d love to have anyone who’s interested join us. Just reach out to us on Instagram, our handle is @dance_africa_nd. If you don’t want to join but are interested in our club, our next performance is m arch 24, one of the events in the A s A showcase,” Abul said.

Contact Angela Mathew at amathew3@nd.edu

ANGELA MATHEW | The Observer

The members of Dance Africa perform various dances at their showcase to demonstrate different pieces of African culture and tradition.